I is for IKEA Inspiration

I find IKEA a great source of inspiration not just for myself and organising our house but also for items for Bear and Bee to use and enjoy. We are travelling south to visit family these school holidays and hopefully I will be able to squeeze in a visit to this Swedish icon.  I would love to go regularly just to revisit some of their displays but it is a 12 hour trip so once a year is the best I can hope for.

This year I don't have a long wish list of IKEA products.  We need some more rolls of drawing paper and Bear and Bee's paint sets need replacing but I am really looking forward to just having a look around.

IKEA is great for finding items for your budding chefs too. I have put together a list of my favourite products. Almost all of these we have and use regularly.

1. Kids cutlery sets - Bear and Bee use these every day for their meals and we have an extra set for impromptu picnics.

2. Kids plates and bowls - these also are used by Bear and Bee everyday and are great for when they want to make their own lunch or afternoon tea. No worrying about broken china.

3. Grater with container - both girls still find grating most veggies tricky. They seem to be able to handle this grater better than the upright box style and can manage to grate cheese and zucchini with it.

4. Bag sealing clips - these are fantastic for closing up bags in the pantry.  Some items like flour and sugar go in resealable containers but sometimes we have a small amount of an ingredients left after experimenting with something new.  Both Bear and Bee can open and close these clips unlike some resealable containers that can be harder to open.

5. Felt fruit and felt vegetables - these are perfect for our pretend play kitchen. Many a meal has been constructed out of these felt food items.  I like them much better than plastic versions and they are lasting very well.

6. Felt birthday cake - the felt birthday cake we have is slightly different to these cupcakes.  It has been used for numerous pretend birthday parties.

7. Ice cube trays for ice in fun shapes - these are good for cold drinks in hot weather but have lots of other uses too. If your child loves small world play the fish shape tray will make great icy fish shapes in a polar play setting.  The trays are good too for sorting seeds and dried beans when practicing those fine motor skills.

8. Placemats in cute designs help make dinner time fun and keep the mess to a minimum (just maybe!). Unfortunately I couldn't find these on the IKEA website to link to but I am sure if you get a chance to visit the store you will find some great versions.

9.  Ice block moulds - I love that these moulds come with a stand.  It makes filling them so much easier.  We have made lots of ice blocks using these moulds including fruit juice and berry and yoghurt versions.

10. Play kitchen - I would have loved this one for bear and bee but we just couldn't get it home. Not enough space in our car.

11. Step stool -  with twins both wanting to help in the kitchen I invested in a learning tower but this stool would be good if you have one child or are short on space in your kitchen.


What have you bought from IKEA that you love using with your kids?

**This is not a sponsored post I just love IKEA's range of products and their affordability.

S is for School Holidays

In Australia our mid year school break is approaching.  While it is winter for us I know many of you are in the midst of summer school break so I thought a list of food related activities for the school holidays might come in handy right about now.

1. Learn to make something new - book into a cookery class or do a swap with a friend. They teach you and your children how to make a favourite dish and then you can return the favour.

2. Plan and make a picnic - indoors if it is cold, outdoors if the weather is warm enough. There is something about a picnic that makes the food extra special so you don't need to go to a lot of trouble. These Iced Chocolates and Strawberry Shortcake Kebabs are good picnic treats and don't take much time to put together.  Visit our Picnic Food Pinterest board for some other ideas.

3. Visit a working farm to see where our food comes from.  Dairy farms are great for kids but you might also have a sheep or crop farm nearby that welcomes visitors.

4. Visit a farmers market or local produce co-op. Many places will have samples for you and your children to try.

5. Host a cookie decorating or cupcake decorating play date for your child and their friends.

6. Try out new ideas for lunchbox items.  Search our Lunchbox Ideas Pinterest board, magazines or kids cook books with your child for possible items for your kids lunch boxes.  Have them help make some things off the list and taste test them for back to school.

7. Bake something together that takes a little extra time that you don't usually have.  Try homemade bread or a rainbow layered cake.

8. Visit your local library and borrow some children's cooking books.  Read them together and choose something to make. We made Gingerbread Cookies after borrowing and reading a Maisy book from our local public library.

9. Take inspiration from your child's favourite book and see if you can come up with a dish to make. Try our Ariel's Treasure Cakes or Cinderella's Pumpkin Doughnuts.

10. Spend the day with grandparents or another elder for your community (if you don't) have any relatives close and make a recipe from their collection.  You can discover some wonderful tried and true recipes this way and chances are your child will remember this time spent together for a long time to come.

To help you plan what to do on the holidays, I have made this activity list into a free printable.  You can read it with your child and mark the activities you want to do. Or use it as a checklist and tick each one as you do it.

Click on the image above or on this link to download the free School Holidays Activity List printable.

Have a safe and happy break.

C is for Christmas Playdough

Playdough that smells like Christmas.  Well sort of.  This Christmas Day Playdough from Nurturestore does smell Christmassy although it is a traditional European Christmas scent.  Orangey, cinnamony and cosy.  Which is really truly lovely. 

I would like to make an Australian Christmas scented playdough but I am not sure how to combine Eucalyptus leaves, hot summer day, beach and barbecues into a smell with out it ending up like a cleaning product!

So this year I am sticking to the Christmas Day playdough.  I also made a batch of Snow Playdough and scented it with Peppermint essence and some Green sparkle playdough using the same base homemade playdough recipe. 

I set them up for Bear and Bee as an Invitation to Play with rolling pins and Christmas themed cookie cutters.

And we also practised our rolling skills and made playdough candy canes.

What is your favourite Christmas scent?

H is for Healthy Lunchboxes Busy Bag for School Aged Children

This is our second post for the Virtual Busy Bag Exchange.  I hope you have all been enjoying the great ideas on offer.  Today I am joined by Nadia from Teach Me Mommy who has created a Magnetic Spelling Game Busy Bag.  Make sure you pop over and have a look.

Bee and Bear's Kindergarten class has started to talk about Healthy and Unhealthy Foods.  They recently had a visit from a dentist and after the school holidays they will be involved in a program based on movement and healthy eating.

I realised this would be a good opportunity to reinforce the basic ideas of what foods are healthy or unhealthy.  At this stage both girls can identify basic concepts such as fruit is healthy and doughnuts are unhealthy but that's as far as it goes.  This Healthy Lunchboxes Busy Bag will give us plenty of chances to discuss why some foods are unhealthy and what this means.

What is in the Busy Bag.  Lunchbox is optional.

For school aged children the Healthy Lunchboxes Busy Bag may provoke discussions about food groups, recommended servings and other nutrition based concepts.  As an extension activity you could also include a grocery store catalogue for your child to look through and find items to include on the shopping list for their lunchboxes.

When playing with the Healthy Lunchboxes Busy Bag, your child chooses one of the human characters to pack a healthy lunchbox for them to take to school.  They then look through the food items included and decide which ones are healthy options and which of those to include in the lunchbox.  Once that lunchbox is packed, your child can then choose one of the monster characters to pack an unhealthy lunchbox for them to take to monster school.

A more detailed explanation of this Busy Bag is included with the printable.  Click on this link to download a copy of the Healthy Lunchboxes Busy Bag printable.

Making a sandwich for the healthy lunchbox.

Bee putting together the healthy lunchbox.

The finished healthy lunchbox.

Bear working on her version of the healthy lunchbox.

Making an unhealthy lunchbox for the monster.

Bee working on the unhealthy lunchbox.

Bear checking over her version of the unhealthy lunchbox.

If you have a Busy Bag idea suitable for school aged children be sure to link it up below. *By linking up, you agree to have your images featured / shared with credit.


Also check out our Virtual Busy Bag Exchange board.

An InLinkz Link-up

G is for Grow My Garden Busy Bag for Preschoolers

Busy Bags are great to have on hand when you need a few minutes of uninterrupted quiet time or when you and the kids are waiting at the doctors.

If you would like a detailed explanation of what Busy Bags are and some more examples head over to Teach Me Mommy for the Introduction to our Virtual Busy Bag Exchange. 

I have teamed up with 11 other bloggers to present you with Busy Bags that you can use with Babies through to School Aged children.  Today Kim from Life over C's, Kelly from Kelly's Classroom and myself have swapped Busy Bags suitable for 5 and 6 year olds. Once you have finished with our Busy Bag make sure you head over to Kim's and Kelly's blogs via the links above to see the other bags for this age group.

I came up with a vegetable garden theme for our Busy Bag.  Growing their own vegetables and herbs is a great activity for children of all ages to be involved in.  In our Grow My Garden Busy Bag, kids get to choose a vegetable to 'plant' in their garden.  Then then roll the dice to see how many of that vegetable they need to 'grow'.  Your child then makes the number of vegetables needed out of the playdough and places them in the garden.


For full details on how to put this busy bag together, download the Grow My Garden Busy Bag printable file.

Bee making cauliflowers for her side of the garden.

The girls worked together so we wrote the number from the dice onto the seed cards.

Sharing the Busy Bag

 

And make sure you come back tomorrow to see our Busy Bag for School Aged children.

If you have a Busy Bag idea suitable for 5 and 6 year olds be sure to link it up below. *By linking up, you agree to have your images featured / shared with credit.


Also check out our Virtual Busy Bag Exchange board.

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Growing!

V is for Vegetable Printing

Bear and Bee did some vegetable printing today.  Bee had seen this activity on television and was keen to try it out.  As today is a non kindy day it was the perfect time to do it.

Vegetable printing requires very little preparation but can be messy so make sure you put plenty of paper , or a plastic sheet, over the table where you are working.

All you will need for Vegetable printing is a selection of vegetables, some paint on a tray and paper to print on.  If you would like more detailed instructions with photos have a look at this post on Garden Vegetable Printing over at No Time For Flash Cards (one of my favourite sites).

This activity is great for learning the names of different vegetables as well as looking at how different each one is on the inside.

Next time we will try using fruits like apples and pears for printing like these Apple Prints over at Modern Parents Messy Kids.

F is for Food Revolution Day

http://www.foodrevolutionday.com/

We're joining in with Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day on Friday 16th May 2014. Getting kids excited about cooking is one of this blog's main aims.

Bear, Bee and myself will be making the Super Smoothies and the Banana Bread for morning tea.  And I think we will have the Classic Tomato Spaghetti and the Simple Green Salad for dinner.

Make sure you check back here to see the photos of how we go.

Are you taking part in Food Revolution Day?  What are you making?

R is for Rainy Days

Image Credit: Mr Printables

Since moving to a new city we are experiencing more rainy days than we are used to.  I have found it useful to have a folder of rainy day ideas to go to when I am at a loss for what to do with Bear and Bee while we are stuck inside.

During the summer months Bear and Bee are happy to play in the rain and jump in puddles but as the weather starts to cool down they are less inclined to want to go outside.

With this in mind I have come up with a list of cooking activities that are perfect for a rainy day.

Get in a twist with homemade pretzels.  These are great with a bowl of soup or just on their own as a tasty snack.

Need to move fast? Try decorating ready made biscuits with icing pens, sprinkles and mini marshmallows.

Don't get messy.  Get the kids to make some felt pizzas.  They will have fun coming up with their own toppings.

Brighten a dreary day with these Rainbow Muffins.

Finally, want to slow down and warm up?  Momables has this great homemade Hot Chocolate recipe.  Delicious!

What is your go to activity on a rainy day?

E is for Easter Fun

I love the rainbow lambs in the top left corner.

 Today we finished painting the Easter Ornaments we made yesterday.  We used this idea for Baking Soda Easter Eggs from The DIY Dreamer.  They are similar to salt dough ornaments but a lot faster to cook and are very white.

The recipe for the baking soda ornaments is from Urban Bliss Life. The only change I would make to the recipe is to leave the ornaments in the oven for longer to make sure they are harder.  Maybe up to 1 hour and 15 minutes.  As long as possible without them going brown.  If you are making these in Australia the oven temperature converts to 80 degrees Celcius.

Tomorrow we will hopefully get time to make marshmallows.  I'll make the marshmallow as its not a kid friendly recipe that children Bear and Bee's age can help with.  Then Bear and Bee can help cut up the marshmallow using our Easter themed cookie cutters.  I will post photos of the results on our Facebook page.  

If you find yourself wanting to use up some of the mini easter eggs try out our Easter Surprise Muffins.

R is for Rituals

Rituals are important for families. They help children feel secure and develop a sense of belonging. Rituals say 'this is who we are as a family'. Rituals can be based on religious festivals and other community events or they can be as simple as allowing your child to chose their favourite food for their birthday meal.

For the threefootcooks, Friday afternoon happy hour is a ritual. Our version involves cordial or occasionally soft drink for the girls, grown up drinks for hubby and me and most importantly a plate of good cheese, crackers, nuts and other nibbles such as dried fruit. Happy hour is a time for us as a family to connect and relax after a long week. Bee was the one who actually initiated this ritual. She had heard her grandparents talking about the happy hour they have around sunset when travelling around in their caravan and it went from there. We usually have happy hour here at home but we have also had it camping, visiting relatives and most recently, last Friday on the beach watching the sunset.

This is one ritual I plan on continuing long into the future. It may evolve slightly but the importance of reconnecting as a family will remain. While we spend a fair bit of time together as a family now I can see that it won't be long before that starts to change. School, work, sport and community commitments will all start to impact on our family time as Bear and Bee get older. So if I can make this ritual something we have always done maybe it will continue to be something we always do (even through the teenage years!).

What family rituals involving food do you have that help your family connect?

Tsh from the Simple Mom blog has a great post on the importance of family rituals.

P is for Play More Games

Bear and Bee are starting to be interested in playing traditional board and card games like Snakes and Ladders and Snap. I am hoping we will be able to foster this interest while camping this week and have a tv and mostly electronic free few days. With so many wonderful apps for children and educational online games it can be easy to forget about all the great games that don't require batteries.

Teaching children to play games helps them learn many skills such as turn taking, counting, planning ahead, communication and problem solving as well as the enjoyment of spending time with family and friends.

While I can't think of any board games involving food, there are lots of food related party games that you can play with your children. Here are a few of my suggestions.

Kitchen scavenger hunt
Give your children a list of items to find in your kitchen and pantry. For younger children you might like to take photos of the items. For older children you could set a time limit. It would be fun to create the hunt list using the items from a recipe. Once the hunt is finished you and your child can then make the recipe together.

The chopstick challenge
For this game all you need is a bowl of lollies such as smarties, maltesers, m&ms or gummy bears, nuts or breakfast cereal like Cheerios and a pair of chopsticks for each person. For younger children you can get chopsticks that are joined together at the top to make them easier to use. The harder and shinier the objects to be picked up the greater the challenge.

Food memory
This is a foodie version of the classic memory or concentration game. Find pairs of food items such as apples, oranges, baked beans tins etc. Hide them in a grid pattern under some plastic (not see through ones) cups and challenge your child to find the pairs.

Build em up
Using carrot sticks, bread sticks and pretzel sticks your child can try to build the tallest tower. Add in marshmallows and gum drops for flexible joints and watch the super structures grow.

Calling all super chefs
Host your own version of Masterchef, iron chef or ready steady cook. Provide your child with 4 or 5 ingredients and challenge them to create an original snack. You never know what they'll come up with! Set up the video camera or take photos to add to the excitement.

What games do you like to play with your child?

B is for Back to School

Most school aged children in Australia will be starting or going back to school in a little over a week.  One of the challenges of this process facing parents will be what to pack for lunch and break time.  Making this task even harder is the hot summer weather.  And while I don’t have to pack lunchboxes for Bear and Bee yet, I still like looking for ideas for hubby’s lunches – much cheaper and healthier than having him buy lunch every day.

Nicole over at Planning with Kids has a great calendar available for 2013 to provide you with inspiration for your child’s lunchbox.  Check it out – the recipes are great and there is also a list of seasonal Australian fruits that work well in a lunchbox. There are also some wonderful ideas in many of the food magazines available at your local newsagent.  

So now is the time to get in and do a bit of planning before you get caught up in the rush of packing school bags and trying on uniforms.  Perhaps do some practice runs with the lunchbox if your child is starting school for the first time.  Pack their lunchbox early in the morning, or better still the night before, and have them eat from it during the day to get use to the idea.  You’ll get any idea of what they can cope with and whether they have any trouble with opening the containers etc.

I would also suggest sitting down with your child and their lunchbox and brainstorming some ideas of what could go in it.  To help with this idea, I have created a lunchbox worksheet that you can download for free. Each section of the lunchbox has a specific food heading and the lunchbox as a whole covers all the food groups (fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy, breads and cereals, meat and protein). 

Click here to download the free pdf worksheet

Younger children can paste in pictures of appropriate foods from magazines while older children can draw and/or label their food suggestions.  If you have time, you could help your child prepare a few versions of this worksheet to have for new ideas for their lunchboxes during the school term.

There are lots of ideas on the internet for what to include in kids’ lunchboxes.  If you need some inspiration, here are a few of my favourite sites.

Kids Healthy Lunchbox Ideas @ taste.com.au

10 Top Lunchbox Ideas @ kidspot.com.au

Healthy Lunchbox Ideas for Kids @ Stay at home mum

X is for Xmas Candies

Since the start of December we have been following the Creative Christmas Countdown over on the Creative with Kids site. Each day we have been completing a different christmas activity and so far we have made gingerbread people cards, homemade wrapping paper and christmas ornaments. 

Today was a science lesson from Science Sparks on solids and liquids that involved making peppermint candies - tough work hey! Following the instructions we mixed the icing sugar, condensed milk and peppermint extract together and then kneaded it until smooth. 

Then we rolled it out on the bench and cut out shapes. The candies then need to go in the fridge for a couple of hours to harden.

Once Bear and Bee were done playing (I mean learning) I then experimented with it by colouring a small batch red and then twisting it with the white. Bear really enjoyed the feel of this stuff.

Top 5 Cooking with Kids apps 2012

Why do a post on apps about cooking rather than an actual hands on cooking experience I hear you ask? Well it is not always possible to do some hands on cooking with your child and there are also times that you need to keep them busy ie waiting at the bank, at the doctor's etc.  So I thought I would give you a list of the 5 best apps that are based on cooking with children or food and nutrition for children. All these apps are available through iTunes.

 1. Cookie Doodle by Shoe the Goose This is a great app for kids of all ages.  You start by choosing either to make your cookie dough from scratch or to use a premised version.  Then there is rolling outmthe dough and the cookie cutter shapes to choose from. Once the cookies are baked they can be frosted (iced), piped and sprinkles and candies added. The finished creations can be 'eaten' , stored in a cookie jar or turned into a jigsaw puzzle.  Bee absolutely loves this app and I love how she get to crack eggs, sift flour, pour in milk, cut up butter all without any mess in the kitchen.

 

2. Awesome Eats by Fun Machine in partnership with the Whole Kids Foundation.  In this game your child works through stages learning about different foods.  The first chapter is all about sorting fruits and vegetables on conveyor belts into baskets. I was amazed how quickly Bee could recognise new fruits after using this game.  We  were grocery shopping the day after first using this game and Bee picked out a mango and named it never having eaten mango before.

3. Toca Kitchen by Toca Boca This app is all about pretend play cooking.  There are 4 characters that your child can choose from to feed. The fridge is full of different foods and the kitchen equipment ranges from a frying pan, to a knife and a food processor.  No more cardboard or plastic sandwiches for you to eat. Your child can feed their creations to the cat or the buffalo! Bee loves putting things in the food processor and the trying to feed the results to the characters.  Apparently, according to Bee, cats love minced fish and people love minced sausage!

4.Cake Doodle by Shoe the Goose. This is just as good as Cookie Doodle with a few more skills thrown in.  With a great range of instant cakes and cakes to make from a recipe, your child is bound to have a lot of fun creating and decorating their masterpieces.

5. Recipes for Kids by Asad Shah. This app is for you.  No more looking for inspiration for what to cook for your child.  This app is packed with great recipes for breakfast lunch and dinner. You have the option of editing the ingredient lists and sending the recipes via email, SMS and Facebook.

What is your child's favourite foodie app?